My daughter has never had any kind of fish but we are cautious with new highly allergic food. She has had a negative rast and skin test for mixed fish. Now the allergist will try an oral challenge of tuna or salmon. I have to bring the fish for the challenge. What is the best to use - canned or fresh? The allergist thought that either was fine. Is it possible to buy fresh salmon or tuna without any cross contamination with other fish at a grocery store? I have never had to think about this before so this is new. It will be wonderful if we can have fish in the house! I am leaning towards trying salmon first since we (hubby and I) love fresh grilled salmon. It would be a great addition to our menu of foods for suppers. Hopefully the kids will too!

Any advice about the fish challenge is appreciated. We go on Wednesday.

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

My sons' allergist said that canned tuna and salmon are pretty safe, because the canning process denaturizes the proteins. So it's not really the best way to test if she is truly allergic. Unless I misunderstood my allergist - but she has told me that a number of times - it's the "safest" fish to start out with when introducing fish to a child.

If you want to know if she is really allergic to tuna or salmon, I would bring fresh, because that will contain the real deal when it comes to the fish protein. I would not test her on canned and then assume that she will be okay with fresh.

For the cross-contamination issue... that's a tough one. I really don't know.

We were very nervous about fish with our youngest as well, but he tested negative to all. However, he refuses to eat it, sadly. And my oldest, who loves fish, is allergic to many of them... Sigh.

Thanks Karen. I will have to head out to the grocery store to find fresh fish which has not been cross contaminated with other fish / shell fish. I wonder whether frozen might be a better option rather than getting fish from the fish counter. Does anyone have any experience with buying fresh fish?

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

So we had the fish challenge today. She is not allergic to salmon! Yah!!!!!!!! However, I am not sure if she will ever eat it again. At the start of the day I wasn't sure if we would get anything in at all. We found safe fresh salmon and baked it the night before and it looked so good but she refused at first. My daughter is so stubborn when she does not want to do things.

Anyways, the nurse had suggested bringing crackers for her to eat the fish on and that worked. She ate her salmon off of Ritz crackers. Not sure that this dish would make a fine dining menu but she ate the fish when required. I had ketchup in reserve but I really did not want to do that to the beautiful fillet we had baked.

So my husband and I are already planning a cedar plank salmon dinner very soon. I think she will eat small amounts with encouragement and then who knows. Maybe someday she will like it. At least we can eat it safely around her. The trick will be finding safe salmon. The woman at the fish counter at our A&P was very knowledgeable and confident that the salmon fillets were not contaminated with other fish. She said that workers changed gloves with each serving of fish and that the fillets did not need to be cut when they arrived.

I am still interested in hearing from others about where they buy fish. The doctor suggested that each new fish we wanted to try should be tested in his office just to be cautious. So for now we buy just salmon and make sure that it is not cross contaminated with other fish.

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

I'm anaphylactic to shellfish but not fish. I buy fish from my local fish market - where, fortunately, they keep the shellfish and fish in separate refrigerator display cases. The owner will also put on fresh gloves for handling my order.

I gently rinse the fish just in case of cross-contact. Haven't had any issues. I realize this will be trickier just within the fish group. Are there any salmon wholesalers or fish farms that let you buy direct? I'd Google around.

Good idea Gwen. I will look into places where I can buy salmon in the area. Thanks.

_________________13 year old daughter -- lives with life-threatening allergies to milk, tree nuts and peanuts; seasonal allergies (birch, maple, ragweed); pet allergies; asthma; and eczema10 year old son - no allergies

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum